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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26001865">That Kid From Crime Alley</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rookblonkorules/pseuds/Rookblonkorules'>Rookblonkorules</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Bruce just really wants to help this kid, Gen, Homelessness, Jason is making that exceedingly difficult, small jason</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:41:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,484</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26001865</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rookblonkorules/pseuds/Rookblonkorules</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“The first time Batman ever lays eyes on Jason Todd, he’s skinny and malnourished and cowering against the alley wall, but none of that does anything to quench the fire he sees burning in those eyes.”<br/>In which Batman meets Jason Todd, but getting the kid to trust him is a lot harder than he’d hoped.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jason Todd &amp; Bruce Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Jason Todd Steals the Batmobile Tires</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>That Kid From Crime Alley</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This has been in my docs for a long time. It was about time I posted another Jason-centric story.<br/>This may or may not be continued.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The first time the Batman ever lays eyes on Jason Todd, the boy is twelve years old.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s skinny and malnourished and cowering against the alley wall, but none of that does anything to quench the fire he sees burning in those eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a tire iron in the kid’s fist, a tire missing from the Batmobile. Another one already has the screws loose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It doesn’t take the World’s Greatest Detective to put two and two together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The child is bold. He’ll give him that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There aren’t many thieves who would dare tangle with the Batmobile, yet this child is all but twelve and attempting what most </span>
  <em>
    <span>supervillains</span>
  </em>
  <span> wouldn’t try.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman takes a step forward, inspecting what has been done to his vehicle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy presses himself further into the wall, as if by doing so he can meld with the bricks and thereby escape the vigilante’s imposing presence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman stops where he is. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This persona… it was created to foster fear inside Gotham’s criminal population. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not children. Never children.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But this… this here is a child. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he is very much afraid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He takes in the boy’s disheveled appearance, his uncombed and unwashed hair, the tattered clothes, the dirt smeared across his face and up his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t doubt that this child is homeless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wonders if he even has parents.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(And the thought stirs up an all too familiar ache in his chest.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s likely he doesn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No parent who cares an ounce for their child would allow him… </span>
  <em>
    <span>this.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Wandering the streets of Gotham on his own is practically a death sentence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think I’m going to hurt you?” he asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s almost comical how the boy’s eyes widen when he realizes that Batman is speaking to </span>
  <em>
    <span>him.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re Batman,” he says finally and Batman isn’t sure which way to take that. “You- you </span>
  <em>
    <span>hunt</span>
  </em>
  <span> criminals.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman doesn’t see any point in denying it. Why would he?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” he says, because he does. Still, the warning bells in his mind cry out. He might not like where this is going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If possible, the boy presses himself closer against the wall, but his eyes narrow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m </span>
  </em>
  <span>a criminal.” The boy raises his head a little defiantly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite the still present fear, Batman recognizes it as a challenge. With his statement, the boy is asking Batman what he’s going to do. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s daring him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going to hurt you.” Batman stays where he is, holding his hands out and away from his body, palms up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why should I trust you?” the boy snarls. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a valid question. One Batman isn’t altogether sure how to answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Almost imperceptibly, his grip on the tire iron shifts. His body is shaking, tiny tremors racking the thin frame.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s trying to subtly prepare himself for an attack- an attack that he has to know he has no chance of winning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thought makes Batman's heart ache.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me help you,” he tries again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He takes a step forward.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Too close. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A bad move on his part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy’s eyes widen and then, a fraction of a second later, he’s moving. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tire iron swings out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As quick as he is, the child is half-starved and no match for Batman's reflexes, but the tire iron still manages to clip the Dark Knight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It does little beyond distract him, but that, it turns out, is all the boy needs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tire iron drops with a clatter and the boy has already taken off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman curses his lack of thought, but he can’t let the child escape.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Children don’t belong on the streets and, if he lets him go now, he may never find him again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yet if he gives chase- he can very well imagine how that will seem to the boy.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>In the end, Batman tracks him to a condemned building. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy has sunk down to the floor, wrapping his hands around his knees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shoots to his feet, however, as soon as the Batman drops down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What…?” The boy scrambles backwards, until his back is pressed back against the wall and there’s nowhere else for him to go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Batman hates to see him like that because a boy his age shouldn’t be holed up in a condemned building, hiding because he has nowhere else to go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He should be at home, wherever home is, tucked away in bed, safe and warm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not out in the cold, alone, fending for himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told you. I’m not going to hurt you,” Batman repeats and the boy glares at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How am I supposed to believe that?” he snaps. “When you followed me home like a… like a freaking stalker!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going to hurt you, but I can’t let you stay on the streets by yourself either.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” the boy sneers and he drags himself up to his full height, which isn’t saying much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This child is </span>
  <em>
    <span>small. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Well, newsflash: I’m doing </span>
  <em>
    <span>fine</span>
  </em>
  <span> on my own. I don’t need you or anyone else!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He clenches his teeth, waving his hand for emphasis.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe someone else would have found something amusing in the scenario: a street urchin squaring off against the Batman with more snark than the average thug, but to Batman, there is nothing funny about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You call living on your own in a place like this fine?” he asks, incredulous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s the wrong thing to say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like I can be choosy!” the boy shoots back. His fists clench and unclench. He might not have the tire iron anymore, but that doesn’t mean he’s not ready to fight Batman tooth and nail if he has to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman decides to take another approach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are your parents?” he asks, though he suspects he knows the answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Either this boy’s parents are dead or they don’t care enough about him to see to it that he’s well fed and clothed.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe they can’t,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thinks, but he waves it off, because, for the first time, the boy’s mask slips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gone,” the boy says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks away, but Batman can hear the heavy grief present in his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gone?” Batman presses. An all too familiar aches starts up in his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He remembers being eight and standing over his parents’ bodies in Crime Alley. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except he wasn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had Alfred and, to this day, he isn’t sure where he would be if he hadn’t had the man there to support him in those dark days.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he’s right (and he suspects that he is), then this child has no one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s truly alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want me to say?” The boy shoots him a glare that has considerably less ire than previously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks weary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman recognizes that look all too well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t say anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He is patient.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My dad’s in prison,” the boy finally spits. “For all the good he ever was.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman is silent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He is silent and he thinks of Dick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He messed that up. He pushed him away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There isn’t a time when he can look back on that without regret.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And yet… he doesn’t know how he can fix that. Not now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But… why is he thinking of that now?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This child isn’t Dick. He can’t hold him up, compare him to the boy that was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His attention returns to the boy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And your mother?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dead. She’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>dead!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the barest of instants, the mask slips and the grief is laid bare on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whatever he felt about his father, he really loved his mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That much is clear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grief is replaced by fury. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that what you wanted to hear?” he demands. “That my mom is dead, so you can drag me back… back to…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t continue and his face twists up like he’s sick, but he still looks ready to bite Batman’s head off if challenged on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite the circumstances, Batman finds himself almost impressed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy closes himself off again. He goes to wrap his arms around his torso, thinks the better of it, and leaves them hanging at his side. His fists clench and unclench. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something seizes in Bruce’s heart- because he’s not Batman anymore, he’s Bruce.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All he can think of are those two bodies in an alley.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two bodies that will never walk and talk again. Never tuck their son in bed again. Never tell him “I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a devastating reality for a child to suddenly find himself existing in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only there were others there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He remembers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A man there to wrap his coat around a child’s shoulders and tell him the world hasn’t ended.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An ever-patient old butler there to take every abuse heaped upon him by the newly orphaned Bruce, whose entire world had just shattered and therefore lashed out at anyone and everyone- including the most patient constant to ever be present in his life. There to enfold him in his arms and just </span>
  <em>
    <span>hold </span>
  </em>
  <span>him when the broken heart became too much and the tears just </span>
  <em>
    <span>flowed</span>
  </em>
  <span> like a river and nothing anyone could do would stop them</span>
  <em>
    <span>.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>If Bruce has guessed right, this boy didn’t have either of those things. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It doesn’t even sound as if he had a father who cared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” is all he can think of to say, but it doesn’t make him mean it any less.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, right.” The boy snorts, understandably skeptical. “What do you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman's eyes narrow behind the cowl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“More than you might think,” he answers and, in the moment, it comes out harsher than he would have liked it to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s enough, however.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy opens his mouth, then closes it, then settles for glaring balefully at the Bat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His forced defiance is almost painfully adorable. He’s so young, so </span>
  <em>
    <span>small, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and here he is, with all the attitude of a born and bred Gotham street thug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I lost my parents too,” he says. Common ground, he reasons. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy still looks suspicious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you didn’t,” he says, but his voice wobbles, and it’s clear that he’s teetering on the edge of uncertainty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I did,” Batman presses. He’s careful to keep his tone forceful, but gentle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With how skittish the boy is, if he puts too much of an edge in his voice, he’ll scare him away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why do you think I do this?” he asks. He gestures down at himself, at the emblem on his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy’s eyes are wide, unblinking. The effect is almost comical. “I…” his voice is dry, almost a whisper. He licks his lips nervously. Not once do his eyes leave Batman. “I just thought you liked bats.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The confession is brutally honest, so unexpected, that Batman actually laughs before he can help himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy’s face pales by several shades. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To him, Batman likely seems to be some sort of cackling demon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t like bats,” he tells him, in a rare bout of honesty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you dressed up like one?” The boy’s voice is incredulous. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman can understand how ridiculous it sounds. Why spend each night dressed as a bat unless you’re a fan?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He considers the question and decides there’s no real way for him to answer that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opts for something else instead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you hungry?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” He stiffens, and Batman notices the way his eyes go dark with suspicion. But he also notices the clothes hanging off a frame that’s a week away from being little less than a skeleton, of the gleam that hides just behind the suspicion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s hungry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end, Batman is sure it’ll be the hunger that wins out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It feels uncomfortably like manipulating one of his enemies. Finding a weakness and exploiting it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(He’s not, Bruce tells himself. He’s not.)</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Batman doesn’t think he’s ever met a child capable of consuming more in one sitting than Jason Todd.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d worked up a sort of system- answers in exchange for food. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman now knows that the boy’s name is Jason Todd. That his mother’s name is- </span>
  <em>
    <span>was-</span>
  </em>
  <span> Catherine Todd. That she was a drug addict who died two years previous from an accidental overdose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knows nothing of the boy’s father, nor of his past two years on the street.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>From the guarded flash in Jason’s eyes, he understood that there was some information he just wouldn’t be getting, food or no food.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He feeds him anyways.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were other ways to find that information out if he had any mind to and he was starting to think that he did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Besides that, if the way Jason is eating is any indication, it’s been some time since the child’s last meal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There are plenty of moments in Bruce’s life and in Batman’s career that he hasn’t been proud of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Denying a hungry child food will not be one of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jason eats with all the ferocity of a wild animal, shoveling food in so quickly that Batman is surprised he has time enough to breathe, let alone chew his food and swallow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without warning, his arm extends to prevent him from taking anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jason gives him a look, affronted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You said I could have whatever I wanted,” he accuses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You eat anything else and you’ll end up throwing it all up.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jason glares at him, but he doesn’t make a move. Maybe because he knows just how futile any effort on his part to that effect would be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It makes something churn uncomfortably in Batman’s gut.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t like that his physical size and prowess is being used to intimidate a child, regardless of his intent. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He removes his arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jason still makes no move, watching Batman with what can only be described as suspicion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman stifles a sigh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I answered your questions,” he says, defiance ever present in his voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So can I go now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No. Something in his heart rebels against letting this boy go. He’ll be on the streets, with no one to look out for him. There will be nothing standing between him and the rest of Gotham’s underworld. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he can’t kidnap him, drag him back to the Manor against his will, no matter how well-intended he is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he intends to rescue this child from the streets, take him in in the same manner he took Dick in, then it has to be based on trust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman is willing to work to gain that trust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jason has already turned his back on him, two steps from breaking out into a run back into the alleys.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait,” he calls after him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy stops, turns halfway and waits. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come back tomorrow. You can have more.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Batman’s willing to bet Jason won’t turn down another free meal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s using his weakness against him. The treacherous voice in his head is back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It doesn’t matter, he tells himself. If this is what it takes to reach him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shuts the voice off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s already overstayed its welcome.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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